Liberalism, as originally and properly understood, is the historic advocate of
individual freedom. It has promoted the rule of law and private property, with
the free exchange of goods and ideas. Its opposition to censorship and state
economic controls is based on the same principle of freedom. Liberalism, as the
name implies, is the fundamental belief in a political ideal where individuals
are free to pursue their own goals, in their own ways, provided they do not
infringe on the equal liberty of others.

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Liberalism turned the prevailing doctrines of human rights and politics upside
down. For centuries it was assumed that man lived for the sake of the state;
that what rights he possessed were gifts, given to him by his king or
government. Liberals argued that the opposite was true. People possess rights
first, and governments receive their sanction from the people.

The
French statesman and journalist Frederic Bastiat explained liberal principles in
his classic work "The Law." Bastiat starts first with the fact that all people
are given the gift of life. To survive, man must apply his rational mind to
natural resources. Life requires freedom, and if man is to survive, he must keep
the product of his labor — or in other words, he must have the right to
property.

Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property —
this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these
three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.
Life, liberty and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the
contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty and property existed beforehand
that cause men to make laws in the first place.

In a
liberal society, the primary function of government is to protect the
pre-existing rights of the individual. The government grants no rights, but
merely acts to prevent others from infringing on such rights.

Human Interaction

Liberalism establishes a basic principle for how people must interact. This
principle is that all interaction must be by mutual consent. Each individual is
thus free to pursue his own happiness in a regime of freedom, regulated only by
the equal liberty and rights of others. The proper method of interaction
economically is one where individuals trade value for value.

Thus
in a truly liberal society, the economy is one of free markets and property
rights. Individuals seeking their own well-being produce goods and services for
exchange with other individuals who are also seeking their own good. No trade
takes place in a free economy unless all trading partners believe they will
benefit. To improve his own life, each individual must also improve the lives of
others, even if this is not his intent.

In a
society where government is limited to the protection of rights, individuals may
pursue varying sets of values. Thus, liberalism is the only system that allows
for pluralism, or the pursuit of contradictory sets of values.

The
function of the state is not to impose one set of values on everyone, but to
allow the free exchange of goods, services and ideas. It protects equally every
group within the society.

No Equal Results

But
liberalism recognizes that a society of equal rights will not lead to one of
equal results. Wealth will be created — not distributed. Those who can reach for
heights will do so, and the rest of us will benefit from their actions. The
result, though not the intention, will be an uplifting of the poorest in
society. Jobs will be created as a necessary component of the profit-seeking of
the entrepreneurs. The poor will have their living standards vastly improved,
and the wealthy will be even wealthier.

And
this is the crucial difference between liberalism and socialism (or what goes by
the name "liberalism" in America today). Liberalism, based on an ethics of
achievement, advocates equal freedom, which leads to unequal results. Socialism,
based on the ethics of envy, demands equal results, which requires limiting
freedom.

Thus
with liberalism, we have freedom, prosperity and unequal wealth. With socialism
we have equality, poverty and no freedom. As much as we might want there to be a
third alternative, it doesn’t exist.

#####

Jim Peron is the author of "Exploding Population Myths," published by The
Heartland Institute. He is executive director of the Institute for Liberal
Values in Johannesburg, South Africa. Permission to
reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the
Center are properly cited.